The invention relates in general to explosive warheads and in particular to the mitigation of inadvertent detonation or deflagration of warheads.
Munitions may be susceptible to inadvertent detonation from stimuli such as, for example, shock waves. Shock waves may originate from a nearby detonation or upon impact of a munition with a target. The susceptibility of a given munition to shock may depend on the explosive charge composition in the munition. The sensitivity of explosives may increase with power. Increasingly stringent safety requirements may require more complicated munition designs.
To address shock mitigation of warheads, inert liner materials that are metal or plastic-based have been considered (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,399 issued to Bilek on Oct. 8, 1991). Such approaches may be effective for incident shock wave attenuation. A drawback of such approaches may be loss of warhead performance due to displacing the main fill explosive with an inert material.
A need exists for an apparatus and method for mitigating inadvertent shock wave detonation of a warhead, while minimizing the loss of performance of the warhead.